I've Done Some Things

So much for my online journal. Six months gone and I have no idea what I've been up to.

Just kidding! I've been working. Two or three jobs, depending on how you look at it. One used to be a job, but they ran out of money and it seems too important to let it fall apart, so now it's a volunteer position.

Plus freelance writing. Which is what I blame for sucking away my creative juices that used to charge this page. At the moment I am between deadlines, short of inspiration to pitch any stories. Finally the informal writing itch has re-emerged.

It was a quiet, tight winter, but spring always seems to breed hope. I keep saying I'm working harder than ever and earning less than ever, but I'm surrounded by intelligent, like-minded people, so it mostly seems worth it. In case I actually have an audience left that's curious about what I've been up to, a brief synopsis:

Job 1 has changed--it used to be as a Spice Merchant (yes, really) at Savory Spice Shop. The pay was low, my feet hurt a lot, but oh, was it interesting. Over 400 individual herbs and spices, plus another 170 proprietary blends to learn and guide customers through.

My bosses were kind of friends before I started, and I enjoyed getting to know them and my coworkers better. I left on excellent terms, and still stop in occasionally just to say hello.

Which is easy, since my new Job 1 is just across the parking lot. It's a local grocery store inside a farmers' market/co-op, called Queen City Pantry. Follow us on Facebook; those posts are mostly mine! I'm pretty much on my own in that job, splitting time with another employee, and between the two of us and the owner, we run the store. I already knew the owner, plus many of the vendors whose products we sell.

One of the best parts of the new job is that I negotiated Mondays off, which means I get a real weekend! It's a day later than most people's, but still, two days off in a row every week feels like luxury now.

Job 2 is more interesting--I am one of three part-time employees trying to keep a one-man bakery afloat. My titles include, Delivery Driver, Farmers Market Seller, Social Media & Marketing Specialist, and Disapproving School Marm. The stories I could tell...but the one-man baker is one of those intelligent, like-minded people I enjoy spending time with, and the bread is killer. If he ever gets his act together, we'll corner the Charlotte market for real, fresh bread.

In between, I do some writing. I've written about bees, about bananas at the farmers' market, about sous chefs, about farmers, about big-dollar dining events.

I helped my parents mark 50 years of marriage.

And just now, I've realized I really need to get my photos in some kind of order. My old computer recently crashed, I've started using cloud storage, only to find my phone had been uploading photos for a while. Now I have photos stored in 3 different places, unlabeled, in no particular order.

 But now I have to go to a pig pickin' with a bunch of chefs and other culinary glitterati at a local brewery. Because I want to. And maybe because I'm getting hungry. Hopefully I'll be back here soon to share some stories, but if not, it's probably because I'm sharing some other stories for money. Which isn't a bad thing.